The author mainly argued the mediated responses to the Haiti earthquake, and how this case has shown the racialization of pity from a privileged white view. In the article, the author first introduced the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, which killed thousands of people and ruined their hometown. Then he argued the responses from US media to Haiti earthquake, which often used the chaos, dysfunction, violence and hopelessness. The media also highlighted the phenomena that black people were hopelessly dependent upon the charity of white people. The media narrative also focused on Haiti’s dysfunctionality that generated the international pity, a word the author argued was not based on equality. The article explains how race shapes the emotion of pity, which is amplified in the US media.
Balaji’s main argument is that the mediated responses to the Haiti earthquake reflect the racialization of pity and the privileging of a white view of the dark world as dysfunctional, childlike and dependent. Balaji used a postcolonial framework, rhetorical analysis of several news articles and commentaries, and context from the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 to explain the power relations between whites and blacks. He found that the media use images of poor black children, miserable women, to create an I-Other binary that differentiates the pitied from those pitying. Many TV shows and commentators also have made such biases toward black people as dysfunctional and hopeless. In addition, the media usually emphasize the benevolence of the whites to highlight their good deeds, which help to strengthen the I-Other discourse.
Bahaji also argued that media set a frame of imperialism by using mediated depictions that highlight the plight of victims as the opposite of the heroism of the colonizers. The frame becomes a norm for the US media audience, who would find themselves superior and have
the ability to pity and help the homogenized Others. Bahaji also claimed that mediated stories of media make the do-gooders became the privileged subject and the black victims become the objects of the good deeds. Bahaji used his own experience to add his credit. He said when he covered the tsunami aftermath, his editors in the US told him to “bring the tragedy home”. In addition, he was directed to affirm the inherent power dynamics between his audience and the tsunami victims by highlighting the Western charity.
Based on the points Bahaji made, I would like to talk about the media discrimination against Middle Eastern. According to the article “What is Middle Eastern, Types of Discrimination, and the Media”, the portrayal of Middle Eastern people and the stereotypes associated with this population have in many ways been perpetuated by American media. The US media always report the wars and chaos in Middle East, and the people living there are in deep misery. The biased media leads to the religious discrimination towards Middle Eastern people’s beliefs, rituals, customs and values, such as the discrimination towards women who wear a hijiab. The biased media also leads to the visual discrimination towards Middle Eastern people’s appearance, skin color and dressing style, such as the often portray of Arab men with dark hair, dark eyes and big black beards. As Balaji argued, the US media’s discrimination toward Middle East and its people intend to generate the I-Other discourse and strengthen the white hegemony and superiority.
D.umn.edu,. (2015). WHAT IS MIDDLE EASTERN, TYPES OF DISCRIMINATION, AND THE
MEDIA:. Retrieved 15 April 2015, from http://www.d.umn.edu/~lbelote/srseminar/mideast/PAPER2.HTM
Balaji, M. (n.d.). Racializing pity: The haiti earthquake and the plight of “others” In Routledge (Vol. 28, pp. 50-67).
Michael J Puhl says
I appreciate your use of critiquing what happened during the Haiti earthquake by explaining how the U.S. media makes the people in Haiti helpless and violent without the rescue of the United States. I like the examples you chose to explain your arguments and the points you brought up from the reading. I also agree with your argument on how the western media portrays middle east as violent extremists ho will kill you if you don’t agree with their religious views. However, this stereotype might be true for some but it’s unfair to generalize the entire Muslim population because there are a billion people practicing that religion. I also noticed that the western media always portrays the United States as the protagonist in foreign affairs but are actually just as cruel as terrorists to some countries. I feel like society is too worried about the difference in one another’s skin color rather than they are with the similarities of color.
mjc5742 says
I like that you took the content of the article and used your own example that is a little more up to date with how the media in the US portrays people in the Middle East. It is a very similar situation to the Haiti article in that the media only shows a very destructive, barbaric society, when in reality not everyone in these countries are like this. This becomes a big issue when it is the only representation that many Americans see of Middle Eastern people and their life style. Many Americans do not seek more information or do not realize that they are being given a biased view from the media when they are presented with these narrow representations.